Reacting to the fellow California Democrat’s retirement announcement to The Hill newspaper, Baca described her as a “bimbo” and said outside interests were again spending money in a race he is running.

But in a phone call to CQ Roll Call late Tuesday afternoon, Baca, who is running for the open 31st District and struggling to raise money, backtracked.

“I wanted to apologize for the poor choice of words,” he said. “I was upset and disappointed that we have a person that’s not running again. To me [Negrete McLeod’s retirement] was a disservice to the area.”

Freshman Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif., announced Tuesday she will not seek re-election in California’s 35th District, instead opting for a bid for county supervisor back home in the Golden State.

“I have chosen to seek election to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and not reelection to Congress,” Negrete McLeod said in a news release. “This was a decision not made lightly. However my desire to represent this community locally, where I have lived for more than forty years, and where I have long served as an elected official, won out. My federal, state, and local experience will allow me the opportunity to effectively represent the constituents of the Fourth District.”

CQ Roll Call reported last month that Negrete McLeod, 72, was mulling a bid for San Bernadino County supervisor. Democratic officials said the position, which oversees one of the largest counties in California, has arguably more power than a sophomore member of Congress in the minority.

Freshman Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif., is keeping her options open to seek a San Bernadino County supervisor seat back home in the Golden State, according to multiple Democratic sources.

“She’s keeping an open mind, that’s all I know,” said Rep. Mark A. Takano, one of Negrete McLeod’s fellow freshman Democrats and allies in the California delegation. “She’s keeping all her options open.”

Negrete McLeod, 72, who defeated former Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., in a bruising race last cycle for California’s 35th District, has more than $900,000 stashed in an account to run for the supervisor seat. The account was created in 2010, and a majority of the funds are reportedly left over from Negrete McLeod’s time as a state senator.

Baca was undone in part by the state’s new top-two primary system, which allowed Negrete McLeod to advance to the general despite finishing second in the first round of balloting June 5. But the seven-term congressman was also hit by a late multimillion dollar ad campaign by Independence USA PAC, a super PAC formed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent.

“Hopefully, this time I run against [Negrete McLeod] and not against the mayor of New York,” Baca told the newspaper.

October 31, 2012

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) new super PAC has made a $1.3 million television reservation in the Los Angeles media market targeting Rep. Joe Baca (D), according to a source who tracks media buys.

Independence USA, Bloomberg’s super PAC, made the buy is in support of Baca’s opponent, Democratic state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod. The new California election system involves a general election pitting the top two finishers from a “jungle” primary, hence the two Democrats in this race.

This sum is more than Independence USA’s total spent on all other federal races in his most recent Federal Election Commission filing, which is aggregated by the Center for Responsive Politics. The news of the reservation was flagged by a media buyer — an information flow that often proves faster than FEC records.

The New York Times reported earlier in October that Bloomberg “expects to spend from $10 million to $15 million of his money in highly competitive state, local and Congressional races.”

The deep-pocketed super PAC also announced a “Watch List” of more than two dozen veteran Members whom it plans to evaluate and potentially target during the height of primary season during the next three months. Full story